Wrongful conviction of Steve Titus

On October 12, 1980, a female hitchhiker was raped in SeaTac, Washington. The assault took place south of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on land owned by the Port of Seattle. Port of Seattle Police described the rapist as 25 to 30 years old, driving a royal blue car with temporary license plates and cloth seats, and having a beard. The rape was reported to have occurred at 6:45 p.m. The victim walked to a nearby house, and after approximately 10 minutes of conversation, telephoned the police at 7:22 p.m. There were tire prints found near the scene which matched that of a Michelin XYZ tire, which was standard on 1981 Honda Accord LX cars, a model that was first sold in September, 1980. The victim reported that there was a large brown folder in the car and that the rapist wore a three piece suit.

The timeline was an important factor in the case. Titus left his parents home at 6:10 p.m on October 12, 1980, after attending his father's birthday party where there were other guests. He was seen by a coffee shop waitress at 6:20 p.m. on the day of the rape. The waitress at different times thought she had seen him at 6:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Titus made a long-distance telephone call from his apartment at 7:00 p.m. on the day of the rape. The distance between the rape scene and Titus' apartment would have required a journey-time of 19½ minutes according to a Seattle Times reporter. These times would not have allowed Titus to be at the location where the victim was raped at the time she indicated the crime had occurred. He was convicted on March 4, and the conviction was overturned June 8. He only spent one night in jail after conviction.

The wrongful conviction of Steve Titus was a miscarriage of justice in which Steve Gary Titus (1949–1985), an American businessman, was convicted wrongly of rape. Titus was dismissed from his job after the conviction and, though the charges were soon dismissed, he became long term unemployed. The crime was later determined to have been committed by serial rapist Edward Lee King. Journalist Paul Henderson was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for his work on the case. Jack Olsen's book Predator examined the investigation of the crime and the life of the real criminal.